{"id":442,"date":"2012-12-10T21:06:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-10T13:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifestinymiracles.com\/2012\/12\/10\/spreading-joy-this-christmas\/"},"modified":"2014-10-03T18:20:21","modified_gmt":"2014-10-03T10:20:21","slug":"spreading-joy-this-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifestinymiracles.com\/2012\/12\/spreading-joy-this-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Spreading Joy this Christmas …"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christmas is that special time of year when we count our blessings and consider ways to be a blessing to those around us. Christmas is also an apt season to practise random acts of kindness simply out of the will to extend goodness, person to person, without expecting anything in return. Yesterday, our cell members rallied together to do just that though a Christmas block visitation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Our Adopted Block…<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The block we adopted consists of all lower income households living in 1-3 room rental flats. This is the third time we are doing block visitations.  We distributed a packet of cookies to every household and extended an invitation to the residents to join us for the Christmas Eve candlelight service and our Christmas Day Lunch.  <\/p>\n

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Bringing Christmas Cheer through Food!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

We always involve the children in such community projects as these are authentic ways for them to cultivate compassion, humility and servant hood. It’s heartening to see the young ones demonstrating the true essence of Christmas by sharing God’s love with people in our midst. We do not need to be a missionary to some far flung countries to do good. There are many needy families right in our doorstep, crying out for support, a listening ear and friendship.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Warm reception from the residents…<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Some residents find us familiar and were delighted to be greeted by excited shouts of ‘Merry Christmas!’ from us! Many opened their doors readily to receive the gift packs and brochures from Dana’s hands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Blessing this grandma with the cookies and inviting her to our Christmas service…<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
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Extending a warm handshake and wishing this Ah Ma peace and good health…<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Community service can start right at home. Dana shook hands with the residents, handed out the cookie packs, made small talks and personally invited them to our Church’s Christmas celebrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Trying to locate details of our Christmas Celebrations…<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Through these block visitations, Dana was able to have a glimpse into the living conditions of kids from needy homes; we took the opportunity to remind her how blessed she is to have so many new toys and books hence she must always remember to help those who are less fortunate than we are.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Saying a warm hello to the little friends…<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Through these acts of kindness, we pass on the true spirit of Christmas. May these households be filled with the joy and peace of Christ who was born on earth 2000 years ago to bring mankind new hope. May their hearts always be filled with love, knowing that THEY are the reason for the season. <\/p>\n

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Inviting a little boy to our free Phonics class for 4-6 year olds…<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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Their smiles made our day…<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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It was a meaningful afternoon doing the block visitation with other families in our cell group. It is our desire to connect more deeply with the residents of our adopted block so that we can be greater blessings to them through other practical means all year long. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Our Cell Members – United to Serve!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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Wherever there is a human in need, there is an opportunity for kindness and to make a difference. ~ Kevin Heath<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n
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Won’t you join us in spreading random acts of kindness this Christmas?  <\/div>\n
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Linking up with Prune Nurture’s<\/span><\/i> <\/div>\n
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<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christmas is that special time of year when we count our blessings and consider ways to be a blessing to those around us. Christmas is also an apt season to practise random acts of kindness simply out of the will to extend goodness, person to person, without expecting anything in return. Yesterday, our cell members […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p59hHF-78","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifestinymiracles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifestinymiracles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifestinymiracles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifestinymiracles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifestinymiracles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifestinymiracles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifestinymiracles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifestinymiracles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifestinymiracles.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}